This thesis focuses on the consequences of deforming a flexible mould surface. Based on the findings a new mould design was developed in order research the deformation of the mould. Also a method was developed to obtain an accurate geometry of the mould surface.

Fibre reinforced polymer composites are applied in monolithic sandwich elements that function as bearing structure in unitised façade systems. The research covers a complete system analysis of the concept, a material assessment regarding engineering FRP composites, and the accompanying quality assurance for both the materials and the production process.

The construction of buildings with free-form concrete surfaces can be accompanied with relatively high costs due to the production of uniquely shaped curved concrete elements. Delft University of Technology researches a method to produce such elements in a cost-efficient way using a re-usable flexible mould. The method requires a flexible reinforcement type for the production of the concrete elements.
In this Master’s thesis one of the options to reinforce elements produced with the flexible mould was researched: textiles. In the first part of this project experiments were conducted on the behavior of (ar-glass) textile reinforced concrete in the flexible mould and the mechanical properties of textile reinforced concrete. Additionally the load bearing behavior of textile reinforced concrete was modeled using the finite element method in ANSYS. The second part of the project consisted out of a case study on the application of textile reinforced concrete elements as cladding panels.

Conventional buildings and structures are not designed usually for adapting to contextual aspects and needs: an instant adaptation of building systems by different configurations can result in an instant adaptation to these needs. The research is here applied for the design of an adaptive acoustic ceiling for a multi-purpose theatre. High real estate, construction, and maintenance costs frequently preclude the creation of single purpose facilities: moreover, the design and construction of a new theater represents the investment of a large amount of money. The main motivation of the research is to propose an adaptive acoustic ceiling that, by motion, is able to adjust its properties in response to changing sonic conditions, altering the sound of space according to performance needs. By relying on research of kinetic systems and their possible implementation with an optional function based on paneling, a case study is carried out for a multipurpose theatre in the Netherlands. The study on kinetic typology revealed that an innovative motion structure based on the biomechanical behavior of backbone-like assemblies can be applied to such design tasks: a procedure regarding design procedure and motion triggering system for the case study, at a conceptual stage is presented.

The process of evacuating some large high-rise buildings may take upwards of several hours. One question that needs to be asked, however, is whether it is feasible and desirable to completely evacuate the high-rise building in fires. This research seeks to remedy this problem by proposing one or more efficient egress plan(s) for high-rise buildings. Investigation into a number of Dutch projects, international fire codes and state-of-the-art literature laid the foundation for this study. Four egress plans have been presented from a worldwide perspective for a specific certain building: Koningin Julianaplein in The Hague, the Netherlands. At least ten egress possibilities have been presented with respect to different fire scenarios. Assessment results of all egress possibilities suggest that partial evacuation appears to be the most appropriate strategy for Koningin Julianaplein, which results in a reduction in egress time by as much as 50% (defend-in-place) and 43% (relocation). While for office towers under relatively high occupant loading, phased evacuation has positive effect on the egress efficiency in comparison with traditional simultaneous evacuation.

The goal of this thesis is to contribute to the understanding of the method CFD by engineers in determining wind loads on structures and ideally contribute to the development of a future design tool. The field of wind engineering is explored and wind tunnel and CFD modelling is discussed. Results determined with wind tunnel tests and CFD simulations are compared and verified. This is the focus of this thesis. Recommended actions for a guideline on post-processing steps are presented. Conclusions that are drawn concern the wall-adjacent cell height, the use of turbulence models and simulation methods.

This project is aiming to reduction of energy demands, and greenhouse gas emissions consequently, by achieving less heating demand and higher thermal comfort for residential buildings. The choice of refurbishment as the best solution for that is investigated. For the needs of the project, a case study was used, carefully chosen to be representative and of common detailing, so the solutions proposed can be implemented to more buildings. The criteria for the refurbishment measures that were investigated were mainly: not extreme costs, comfort for the residents during the construction and the possibility to generalize the solution for more buildings.
CAPSOL models were created for the calculation of the heating demand in the exiting situation and the refurbishment solutions. The result of this modeling was that the building has to be fully refurbished in order for it to achieve both high thermal comfort and low heating demand. Passive measures, like second skin façade and closed-off balcony, work better than external insulation, especially if they are south oriented.
The greenhouse gas emissions were calculated both form the heating demands and by calculating the embedded energy of the materials used in each refurbishment solution. Again, the passive measures were more efficient because glass and steel are much less environmentally-costly materials than aluminium frames and external insulation. Also, geothermy played an important role in reducing the emissions greatly.

As a building ages the building performance demands may change. The CEG building is a representative case of building that has to face modern demands. Indoor comfort is a subject which does not only depend on physical parameters, but also on the occupants perception of comfort. To capture this duality this research has performed a user research. By the use of Post Occupancy Evaluation comfort complaint information was retrieved from the occupants. The user and technical data have led to a preliminary diagnosis on the building's performance. Several interventions have been reviewed that can improve the indoor climate. With the use of a simulation tool, Design Builder, several intervention profiles have been reviewed. Based on all the results a preliminary design proposal has been developed. The conclusion of this research is that a combination of active and passive solutions is required to improve the indoor climate of the CEG building. The preliminary design proposal will lead to an improvement of comfort and a decrease in energy consumption.

Indoor climate and human comfort is attaining increasing interest in large urbanized areas. While for the user this is mainly as a result of increasing operational costs associated with the devices for heating and cooling, the bigger concern for environmentally conscious engineers and designers lies in reducing the emission of green house gases. Further, use of locally available eco-friendly materials are also gaining popularity as they have the potential to reduce the embodied energy to a great extent. In this master thesis project, a design concept for a dynamic façade system for urban India (mainly for the hot-humid climate zone) using bamboo has been developed. The design is based on promoting cooling by natural ventilation in combination with positioning the façade elements in such a way that reduces the impact of heat released due to thermal mass on the indoor climate. Thermal comfort has been assessed based on Adaptive Thermal Comfort models for the hot-humid climate zone. CFD tool of the software, DesignBuilder in combination with excel calculations were carried out to perform the necessary building physics calculations. Further, the environmental impact of the design has been evaluated by the Cradle2Cradle framework.

Design and construction processes of three Norwegian office renovation projects are analysed to research the best way to organize a design process with ambitious sustainability goals.
Actors with decision-making power in these projects are interviewed such as architects, contractors, clients, tenants and sustainability experts.
The report consists of three parts. In part 1 sustainable office renovation in theory is discussed, with background information on sustainability as a design parameter, the refurbishment process, and the design process. Part 2 analyses the design and construction process of five projects. Three projects are described in detail. Part 3 concludes by combining the practical findings with earlier described theory.

A new architectural concept is being developed nowadays - free-form design, which allows the architects to add personality to a building through the shape itself. To sustain this development, the existing and available production techniques have to be combined with new technological innovations.
The flexible mould system uses the traditional technologies for pre-cast concrete fabrication to realize curved concrete elements. The flexible mould system relies on deformation of the concrete panels at very early age, when the tensile strength of the material has just started to develop and has not reached high values yet. Due to this physical deformation and the forced strains thus created in the material, a crack pattern can be formed on the surface of the element. The current research provides a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the cracks formed due to physical deformation. A range of influencing parameters were considered in the research: deformation time, radius of deformation, thickness of the elements and water/cement ratios. Also two alternative materials were analyzed and evaluated as potential replacements for the traditional concrete mixture.
The results of the current research showed that fabrication of double-curved elements by using a flexible mould system can be realized without affecting considerably the concrete’s microscopic structure. A list of recommendations is provided as a result of the current thesis for the parties which in the future will be potentially involved in designing and manufacturing double-curved concrete elements.
The double-curved concrete elements promise to bring a significant amount of flexibility in the next generation of architectural entities.

How could urban areas provide public charging infrastructure for the rapidly increasing number of electric vehicles?
The objective of this research is to develop a tool that helps municipalities and market players to understand the need for public charging infrastructure, and to design an efficient solution for charging large numbers of electric vehicles in an urban area.
An efficient solution to prevent the expected shortage of public charging infrastructure in urban areas, is realizing modular and flexible charging stations with multiple fast chargers, at strategic locations along access roads.
Appendices and scenario model are excluded from this published report. If you have any questions regarding the content of the presentation or report, or if you like to share ideas about this topic, feel free to contact me at any time.

One of the tests in the ESECMaSE project is the large scale earthquake test on a building. The finite element model that is discussed in this thesis is based on this pseudo-dynamic test. The material model follows from a macro modelling approach and has smeared-cracks. The mode shape and eigenfrequencies are obtained through an eigenvalue analysis. The seismic load is applied in a fixed force ratio with the aid of an auxiliary frame in order to perform a displacement controlled analysis. A sensitivity study to several modelling aspects and modelling parameters was carried out to verify modelling assumptions. It is concluded that a cyclic pushover analysis approximates the results from the test the best. The crack patterns in both models are similar and the shear capacity in the weakest direction is approached up to 29%.

This report describes a Master’s Thesis research that has been carried out to gain insight in the possible improvements of sound insulation of membrane structures, which are used in practice for temporary structures, e.g. festival tents, and to give practical solutions. This research concentrated on triple-leaf membrane systems with filled cavities. From a state-of-the-art review can be concluded that triple-leaf membrane systems, when filled, perform better than double-leaf and single-leaf membrane structures. From literature research it was concluded as well that tension in the membrane has a negligible effect on the sound insulation and that, on the other hand the flow resistance both of the filling and of the membrane material has large influence. Three different kind of filling materials were used in the present study: (lightweight) glass wool, polyester wool and aerogel. Acoustical measurements were carried out in a laboratory, of which the outcomes were compared to a number of computer and mathematical models. The Multiple Layer Model appears to give good prediction for filled triple-layer membrane systems and this model therefore was used to optimise the important parameters. A well performing triple-layer membrane system was discussed, which met the restriction of 7kg/m2 for the surface density of the membrane package. This system includes one layer of aerogel for reasonable sound insulation at low frequencies, and one thicker layer of glass wool yielding good sound insulation at higher frequencies. This system is only investigated theoretically for nog and not empirically (yet). Details have been worked out for a number of practical membrane structure applications for this result (also applicable to variants using only glass wool), focussing on temporary (festival) tent structures.